Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1950 Eastern Brazil ([-])

"In the Treaty of Tordesillas, God gave the Spaniards a large amount of gold and silver, so in theory, Brazil should also have a lot of precious metals like this, so it will be fair, after all, they are all the Lord's people Well." The person who spoke was Vicente, a Portuguese-Brazilian who was a member of the Sao Paulo flag team when he was young. pension.

Xiao Guang, who led the team, glanced at him, said nothing, and was looking at some documents in his hand.These documents are all materials obtained by the General Administration of State Intelligence from the colonial authorities of Portuguese Brazil. Most of them are mining or exploration materials reported to their superiors by local military and political chiefs during the Portuguese occupation period. They are very valuable.

For example, these materials record that in the 1560s, someone discovered gold in San Vicente Island; in the 1570s, placer gold was discovered in Paranagua; Reports of gold appearing in Nambuco, Curitiba and other places.Some of them have been proven to be just rumors, some have been proven to have only a small amount of reserves, and have been exhausted in nearly a hundred years, and some have not been confirmed. Therefore, the expedition sent by the Governor of Brazil died before reaching the destination. .

When people on the east coast retrieved these precious reports from a century ago, they started their search for precious metal mines in Brazil again.The Ministry of Finance now allocates 50 yuan per year, and the Ministry of Geology, the Ministry of War and the Bureau of Statistics and Investigation of Syphilis Patients jointly form one expedition after another to go to various parts of Brazil for exploration.

Xiao Guang is the grandson of Xiao Bailang, a veteran of the first government. He was born in 1655 and graduated from Bingtuanbao. He is currently serving as a captain's staff officer in the Ministry of War.In this cooperation with the Ministry of Geology, Xiao, who had nothing to do, took the initiative to ask for a job as an expedition leader, and led a team of about 30 people to explore inland areas of Brazil.

Going to the interior of Brazil to pan for gold is, to be honest, not an easy job.Towering mountains, deep valleys, and turbulent rivers all geographically block the eyes of the people in the coastal areas from peeping inland.The changeable climate, ferocious beasts, poisonous snakes, and irritable natives are also the biggest obstacles to reclamation in the inland areas.Over the years, the people on the east coast have experienced such things step by step to reclaim wasteland, all of which tell people how dangerous it is to go to the interior of Brazil to reclaim wasteland.

Therefore, before the large-scale land reclamation operation starts, multiple expeditions and surveys by small-scale teams have become very necessary, and this operation has occupied a large amount of funds of the State Development Bureau and the Ministry of Geology for decades. The figure of almost 80 million yuan per year is shocking-the total number of expeditions is close to 2000, including guides, guards, intelligence agents, zoologists, geologists, veterinarians, chefs, doctors, craftsmen, etc. personnel, as well as a large amount of draft animals, supplies and other expenses.

Of course, the cost is so huge, but the benefits are also not small.First of all, this allows people on the east coast to have a rough understanding of the terrain, forests, climate, and minerals in the wild areas of their own country. In the future, whether it is building settlements, building roads, or developing resources, they can be targeted instead of just looking at them A smear.

Secondly, the expedition organized by the government was the first to discover risk factors more effectively and help the later immigrants filter out most of the sources of danger.This is actually very critical, and it can effectively reduce the death rate of immigrants. Just think about the wars between North American colonists and Indians in later generations. Civilian forces are always very weak, and this aspect still depends on the government.

Finally, if the official-led expedition discovers mineral resources, the rights can be transferred to the state.Otherwise, just like the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Brazil, the folks found gold mines and did not report them, and they mined them secretly, causing the country to lose a large amount of income in vain.

All in all, it is not unreasonable for the country to spend huge sums of money every year and deploy staff from various departments to form dozens of expeditions to go deep into various regions of the country (even some foreign regions).Now Xiao Guang's expedition team started from Zhuolu County, trekking all the way to the legendary gold producing area.

The source of the original news was the local Tupinamba Indians. A small part of these Indians living in rivers and forest areas accepted the naturalization of the East Coast government, and then informed the East Coast people of this vital information.Although these tribal people soon rebelled because the east bank government tried to force them to move to the Namib Desert in South Africa to settle down, but the news has spread, and it has also attracted the attention of the east bank government.

Now that the rebellion has subsided, the east bank government sent five expedition teams (each with 30-40 people, carrying a large number of mules, equipment and water) to the newly established Zhuolu County, and then proceeded separately along different routes , to find the legendary place where gold, gems and diamonds are produced.

Of course, it is not accurate to say that they are specifically looking for gold.Because the expedition team undertakes many tasks, finding gold is only one of the more important tasks, in addition to surveying terrain, drawing maps, inspecting flora and fauna, recording climate, investigating aborigines, collecting other ore specimens (if any), etc. , it may be more accurate to say that it is a survey of undeveloped areas of the country.

After resting in Panquan Township, Zhuolu County, the team led by Xiao Guang went all the way up the Zhuoshui (Grande River) and walked for a whole month before arriving at the Tuanjie River (San Francisco River, because of the communication It covers the offshore and inland areas of Brazil, and is the main traffic road. It is called the "River of Unity" in Brazil in later generations, and the east bank is the source area.

The reason why it took so long is not because of the long distance, the main reason is that it is difficult to walk.Because it is the dry season, many waterfalls and shoals are exposed, which is not conducive to navigation. In addition, this expedition team will go deep into the inland area and bring a lot of draft animals, so they did not choose to go up by boat, but along the Go up the river bank by land.And this will undoubtedly kill them. The dense forests and swamps along the way made them want to die, and the small Tupinanba tribe that appeared from time to time also made them panic. In short, Xiao Guang regretted his death now. I knew it would be better to take the boat at the beginning, but the big deal is to throw the boat away when I get to the land.

But in any case, they have now successfully reached the as yet unnamed mountain range and rested.Today (June 1686, 6) is the day of departure. The Portuguese guide Vicente opened the messy map, looked at it carefully, and said the above words as if to cheer for his group .You know, if you find a gold mine, Vicente himself can get a huge bonus of 15 yuan in addition to the already very generous salary. This is also the main reason why he took the risk to go deep into the hinterland of Brazil.

"I hope your god is really leveling the bowl of water." Xiao Guang spat out the grass stalk in his mouth, waved his hand, and said, "Stop dawdling, let's go! Pay attention to the Indians!"

So the team moved on.The long journey has already made everyone in the team lose their enthusiasm, but the morale seems to be good.These are elite soldiers selected by various ministries and commissions. They have been trained for a month before departure, and they are fully prepared for the difficulties of wild adventures.So although I felt a little tired - mainly psychological - I was able to hold on until I reached the confluence of the Palau Peba and Unity Rivers after more than two months.

At this time, there were only 24 people left in the team, and 7 people died during the previous two-month journey: two died of sudden illness, two died of Indian attacks, and one died of Due to the attack of poisonous snakes, even Xiao Guang, the leader of the expedition team, accidentally contracted malaria, and his life was saved only by the treatment of Jininashuang.

However, such a bad situation did not lower the morale of the expedition team for no other reason: the expedition team had just discovered a lot of placer gold in a slightly dry riverbed.This is undoubtedly an important discovery. A lot of placer gold means that there are gold ores nearby that have been washed and broken by water, so there must be a deposit, which is exactly what everyone is looking for.

As a result, more than 20 people quickly divided into two groups, and started looking for gold mines along two directions.They searched along the river, constantly sifting through the river sand, trying to find the gold grains inside.After tossing like this for almost two months, they finally found a corner of the gold mine beside a small river valley.

The scope of the gold mine seems small and the reserves are limited, but it is already an exciting discovery.Xiao Guang had someone write down the specific location and draw a more accurate map, and then continued to search around for more than a month, but unfortunately nothing was found.Maybe there are more gold mines hidden here, but the manpower is too scarce, so we can only talk about it later.

In fact, this is not whimsical. In history, the entire state of Minas Gerais is full of gold mines, gemstone mines and diamond mines, but the scales are different.Taking the San Francisco River (Unity River) as the axis, the further downstream, the more placer gold appears, and gold deposits of different sizes are everywhere, until near the Velias River (a large tributary of the Unity River), The gold mines suddenly became dense, and large and super-large gold mines appeared, so that in 1720, the Governor of Portuguese Brazil announced the establishment of the General Minas Gerais District, which covers an area of ​​nearly 60 square kilometers. Carry out overall management.

In the days of the gold rush, there were gold mines all over the state of Minas Gerais, and there was no place where it was not profitable.In the 18th century, the government's annual gold production in the state was only more than 20 tons, but private gold mining is said to have reached 70-80 tons, which is very crazy.

What is even more shocking is that there is also a super-large iron mine, a silver mine with large reserves, and other mineral deposits such as copper, lead, mercury, etc., but few people care about it.The reason is that placer gold with small investment and high profit is everywhere, and people can get the excess profit of gold without much effort, so that no one is willing to extract silver from silver mines, let alone mine copper. ore, mercury ore, lead ore, and iron ore, and later the discovery of many gemstone mines including emeralds aroused people's interest again, because this kind of "stone" is really valuable in Europe, and the profits Not lower than gold, even higher.

It can be seen that Minas Gerais is really a treasure house - in fact, there are gold mines in the neighboring states of Espirito Santo, Mato Grosso and Bahia, especially in Mato The state of Grosso is the largest, not smaller than that of Minas Gerais - not only a large amount of gold, gemstones, and diamonds, which are called cash deposits, but also world-class iron ore and other mineral deposits. The capital and raw materials needed for the revolution are all available, and the only thing that is lacking is probably coal. This is a flaw, and it really cannot be solved.

But in any case, the great value of Minas Gerais cannot be ignored.In history, Brazil's economy has gone through three cycles. The first one is from the early colonial period to the late 16th century. This is the so-called "mahogany cycle", that is, the Portuguese crazily cut down Brazilian sumac. , the most important use is to use it to make red dye, and then sell it in Europe, making countless profits.Of course, we also know the consequences. First, the French coveted and tried to establish a stronghold in Brazil, but they were unsuccessful and were expelled by the Portuguese.But then the Dutch also rushed over. This time the Portuguese were struggling and lost a large piece of land in the northeast. Finally, they relied on the Anglo-Dutch War to successfully regain the lost land and once again occupied Brazil.

After the decline of the mahogany cycle (Brazilian sumac was overgrown by the Portuguese, there were not many left), from the late 17th century to the 18th century, Brazil ushered in the so-called "golden cycle", that is, relying on Ceara, Santo Many gold mines, gemstone mines and diamond mines were discovered in Espiritu, Bahia, Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais. The Brazilian economy quickly relied on the mining, smelting and transportation of the above mineral deposits. , Sales developed as the pillar.Countless poor people from the old continent traveled across the ocean to Brazil in search of the legendary gold mines. While greatly enriching the population of Brazil, it also promoted the development of Brazil's inland areas - after all, gold diggers also have to consume. The related industries that are driven are also quite large.

After the golden cycle, Brazil ushered in the famous "coffee cycle".That is to say, with the economic development of the old continent and the improvement of people's consumption ability, Brazil's coffee industry began to develop greatly in the 19th century. It once monopolized the international market and made huge profits for Brazil, which made it compete with the United States to attract the old coffee industry. Immigrants from the mainland, countless Italians, Germans and Slavs from the Balkans came to Brazil, laying the foundation for modern Brazil.

Gold alone can support a cycle of the Brazilian economy. It has been around for hundreds of years, which shows that Minas Gerais and its adjacent areas are rich in gold reserves.This kind of mineral deposit that can make a fortune overnight is really a happy trouble for the East Coast Republic, which has always been a country based on industry, because the degree of huge profits is too amazing. The sole economic pillar is even more terrifying.Therefore, in the future, it is conceivable that all gold mines, silver mines and gemstone mines in Brazil should be nationalized, private capital is strictly prohibited from entering (of course it is the same now), and the collected gold should be used as a reserve for currency reform Store it and try not to put it on the market (or even if it is put on, it is best to put it on the foreign and overseas colonial markets), so as not to cause any unnecessary troubles and disrupt the normal economic order on the east coast.

Xiao Guang and the others did not stay here for too long.Because the reserves of food and medicine have been reduced to near the warning line, and a large number of draft animals have died, after some discussion, they finally decided to go up the Tuanjie River first, return to the starting point of Zhuolu County, and hand over the expedition report and map. Go up and talk.

Next, they plan to take a good rest there and wait for the next instruction from their superiors.There is no doubt that if you look carefully along the Tuanjie River and its tributaries, you will definitely find a lot of gold mines. Even in the depths of a jungle or river valley, there may not be a large group of gold mines, which is extremely valuable. .

Xiao Guang always felt that the Ministry of Geology, the State Development Administration, and the Mei Agency—no, this kind of thing might be "updated to the heavens" and directly intervened by the big bosses of the executive committee—mostly they would order to continue to explore and provide them with sufficient manpower, draft animals and supplies.Even at the same time, from Zhuolu County to the east, these wild areas that have been explored more, maybe some new settlements will be established to facilitate possible future development actions.

All of this benefits from gold, which is really a magical thing!

(End of this chapter)